Well, it didn’t take long for me to get to want more than 10x zoom on my digital camera. Not that I’m complaining too much; 10x is pretty good, and if you’ve been looking at the Birdwatching in Japan series, then you have a good idea of what good quality shots I’ve been able to get–especially considering that I’m using a digital camera priced just over $300.

But knowing that better lenses are out there, I decided to see what I could find. I went to Yodobashi, and found two candidates: the Canon-specific TC-DC52B 1.6x Tele-converter, and the Raynox DCR-2020PRO 2.2x Tele-converter. Both are priced higher in Japan than in the U.S.; the Japan prices were $140 and $200 respectively. I tried both out on a local target–a shop sign seen out the doorway. Below is the zoom range comparison shot:

The main image was taken with just the regular 10x optical zoom on the Canon. The two interior squares represent the images taken by the camera with the two zoom lenses at maximum optical zoom. I superimposed the 16x and 22x images and then reduced the images until they matched the original image. Each square shows the area covered by each zoomed image; imagine each area expanded to match the original shot, and you get an idea of the magnification. The images are slightly tilted because of the way I held the camera.

The lenses must be used with the camera at a higher zoom setting, or else you get a telescoping black circle around the image; below are photos taken with the Canon and Raynox, respectively, with the camera fully zoomed out:

As you can see, you have less of a field of view with the Raynox; to get rid of the black frame, you have to zoom the camera nearly to the limit. the Canon lens allows for much more flexibility. Both allow you to start zoomed out in order to find the target before zooming in, however, and that is really all that I was looking for.

I’ve got to go–final exams and all. But I’ll be back with more, including which lens I got, some shots of the lens on the camera, and a real humdinger in the “dumb ideas” department!